Melvin: No talks with Hart

I just got off the phone with Brewers general manager Doug Melvin, who is in Indian Wells, Calif., where the annual general managers meetings are wrapping up.

Contrary to a report earlier today by FOXSports.com, Melvin said he has not talked with Jeff Berry, the agent for first baseman Corey Hart, about a contract extension. And Melvin said there are no immediate plans to do so.

"Jeff Berry was here, but we didn't talk about that," said Melvin. "We haven't approached him with it. We had a general conversation about it, but there was no exchange. I don't think it's something we'll engage in at this point. That could change. Our position in the past has been to talk about those things in the spring, if we're going to do it. »Read Full Blog Post

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Interesting that Melvin is talking about potential trades. I'm under the belief that we need more than 1 starting pitcher and were not gonna get both of them in FA with guys like Jeremy Guthrie thinking he's worth 34 mill over 3 years.

However if we could sign someone like Edwin Jackson or Ryan Dempster to go along with a trade for a James Shields, R.A. Dickey or even a Gavin Floyd we could be right back in the thick of things. With all these Corey Hart rumors I wonder if the Brewers might try using Hunter Morris along with one of our ML ready starters in a trade for a starting pitcher. Adding someone like Martin Maldonado would only sweeten the pot.

I think Shivas Irons has something.Hart's trade value will never be higher.Morris is a much needed LH power hitter nad Aoki is the only other LH in the starting lineup.Plus it saves us 10M ( minus what we pay a few hundred thousand for Morris nad who ever we get for Hart) if its a prospect or 2 we can save 8-9M and use that for another starting pitcher.We need to ( or at least Mark wants to lower the payroll) and we can do that with Hart being traded and replaced with a starter.

Corey Hart played brilliantly at first base last year at times and added solid offensive punch as he has done in multiple seasons as a Brewer. He was asked to go to 1B by the organization and gladly did and did a helluva job. Besides, he want to be a Brewer ! and an extension could only be a good thing for the organization. Morris is a wild card at this point. Yes, maybe he is the starting 1B in 2014 but maybe not as it is likely he will be a rookie and not in MIlwaukee next season till very end of season. I see no reason why Hart couldnt return to RF if Morris becomes the 1B. Heh we lost Prince and Zach, lets try keeping some fan favorites like Cory

It seems to me that Melvin turned the corner in how he values pitching. His acquisitions of Greinke and Markum were a marked change of direction. Hope to see something similar...isn't it time for the Rays to dump a good pitcher for a prospect? Or two?